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Explosive Mines
For a resource cost, the Sivuskras Ruiner randomly spreads 10 Explosive Mines around its current position. Each mine does 700 points of damage in a radius of 1500 and can affect an unlimited number of targets caught in its explosion range. Tactics Place mines where ships jump into your gravity well for a nastly surprise, and to delay enemy fleets that jump in, giving you time to build defenses and bring in a supporting fleet. Take care to notice where ships actually jump in. This might not be exactly at the point where a phase lane line touches the gravity well -- rather, ships can jump in up to 45 degrees to either side of this lane. They may also drop out of phase space farther inside the gravity well with certain upgrades (e.g. Jump Field Generator artifact, Vasari Phase Drive Pact). A human player can pick the angle relative to the phase lane where their ships will jump in by positioning them at the jump's origin well. The AI has a tendency to jump in always at the same point, but which point it is usually needs to be individually observed for each gravity well. Whether AI or human, if you can see the origin point of the enemy's jump, you will be able to tell the angle at which the ships will jump in at your well -- it will be the same as the angle at which they jumped out at the source, as the entire phase jump is along a parallel line with the phase line. Another option is to place mines along the most likely (or commonly used in the past) approach to your fixed fortifications (hangars, turrets, etc.), as there you will have a high chance of the enemy charging through them. Make sure to place them far enough out that the enemy will actually need to go through the minefield to get into range of your structures. You may also use your mobile Orkulus to "kite" enemies into minefields -- if it has the "auxiliary government" upgrade, the enemy will have to take it out of the picture to colonize the planet, more or less guaranteeing their ships will attack the starbase. Keep in mind that while mines can be used to considerable effect against the AI, human players can always see them and therefore bypass them (although their ''ships ''still cannot, and will go through unless ordered to go around). Laying mines against a human is thus of limited use, unless you can lay enough the opponent ''has ''to go through at least some of them. (You might be able to do this at a star, which can have up to 500 mines, or at planets with very small gravity wells. Elsewhere, it is less practical.) However, a human will still probably be able to minimize the number of mines they set off, making the cost-benefit ratio rather unfavorable. Finally, Advent Loyalists can research a passive ability for the Aeria Drone Host to take over mines (of any kind) in a radius of 8,000 around the ship. While the ability seems to proc (activate) only once every few seconds, when it does, the mines flip to the Advent player and are immediately cloaked and armed (unless they were still on their initial activation timer when taken over). This can potentially turn your own minefield into a costly trap if you are hiding your fleet inside it. Statistics Category:Mines Category:Entrenchment Category:Vasari Category:Abilities